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Monday January 29 2018

Mangat breaks Mbarara Rally jinx

Breaking barriers. Mangat returned to the podium after the 200km event in one hour, 47 minutes and 56 seconds to win his first-ever Mbarara Rally crown. PHOTO BY JB SSENKUBUGE

In Summary

Motorsport. Before yesterday’s triumph, the three-time national champion had failed to finish the season-opening event.

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By Fredrick Musisi Kiyingi

Mbarara.

After failing to finish the Lato Milk Mbarara Rally for the past two years, Jas Mangat won the event yesterday to launch his quest for a fourth National Rally Championship (NRC) title.Should he pull it off, it would make him the most successful local driver, level with Sam Ssali and Charlie Lubega. That will require him last the entire course of seven races. At least, he has set the tone. Mangat, a three-time national champion with his co-driver Joseph Kamya, brought back the Evo X in a time of 01.47:56 over the 200km two-day race, beating Christakis FItidis and Eric Nzamwita into second place. Fitidis, the reigning national champion, was six minutes and 33 seconds adrift with the 2011 NRC winning crew Susan Muwonge and Edmond Kyeyune in third. Mangat, who missed most of last season, dominated the event from day one on Saturday and laid the mark for the rest of the season.“I intend to do this most of the season, try to win as many events as possible but will not focus on the fourth title,” Mangat told Daily Monitor after his first victory in Mbarara. Adding: “Save for the small incident yesterday (on Saturday) involving the route opener, the event was well organised, and have give credit to organisers.”On day one, his path was blocked by the route opener. “It was smooth on Saturday as I was flagged off in sixth place, it was clear all the way after the leading cars have gone through. Yesterday (Sunday) was different as I had to open. But I was cautious.”Kamya, his navigator, was equally delighted with the win. “Being the first event of the season and our experience for the past two years, we had to be careful. Also we did not know what to expect and our strategy was to bring back the car,” Kamya said.Susan, who finished third, was happy with her performance although the end was not what she expected. “ I still had unfinished business with Fitidis I hoped to overturn the 10secs he beat me with for the second position,” the 2011 champion explained. “I lost the chance when the section (Kamatarisi-Lake-26km) was cancelled.”

Cancelled sectionThe organisers cancelled the section after the Evo X of Adam Rauf and George Ssemakula had a mechanical fault in the middle of the last section and other drivers could not pass. Rauf who delighted the crowd over two days, was lying second. Second placed FItidis, praised Susan for pushing him all the way. “I give a lot of credit to that lady (Susan) for the way she drove today (final day). She was so competitive over two day,” the reigning national champion said. Nineteen cars out of 37 which started the event on Saturday finis hissed the event. l Mbarara Rally kept its traditional of big names dropping out. Ponsiano Lwakataka, Hassan Alwi, Ronald Ssebuguzi, Omar Mayanja and Fred Busulwa all dropped out. The next event is in Jinja organised by FMU. The event has a total of over 200km of which 194km was competitive. Lato Milk, Fero Mobiles, Tip Top, Horizon coaches, Asiatic sports, Coca Cola, Shell V-Power, Tusiime Events Mbarara, Operation wealth Creation, Megger Techinical services Ltd, Super Star, Afia, and UMC Victoria Hospital are the sponsors of the event.